1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and system operable for selectively treating incoming telephone calls to a telephone user by assigning a priority code to dictate a treatment option of the incoming telephone calls.
2. Background Art
Telephones have become a necessity in people's lives as a means of communication. However, an incoming telephone call may occasionally interfere or inconvenience a person's life. On the other hand, there may be other occasions when a person may not want to miss a particularly important telephone call. As such, people desire to control interference caused by telephone calls with their lives.
Telephone services are available for managing incoming telephone calls to a telephone user. The services may include blocking the incoming calls, routing the calls to an answering service, or forwarding the calls to another telephone line. However, these services treat all incoming calls in the same manner with no selectivity or precision.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,277,649 issued to Sheinbein (Sheinbein) provides a system for screening incoming telephone calls based upon the identity of the calling line. Sheinbein uses a switching office to hold a telephone user's screening memory for treatment of incoming telephone calls to a telephone of the telephone user. The set up of the system in Sheinbein is limited, time consuming, and inconvenient because the telephone user uses the telephone itself to set up the priority settings for treatment of incoming telephone calls to the telephone user's telephone.
Thus, there exists a need for a method and system that would allow a telephone user to easily select treatment options for incoming telephone calls to a telephone of the telephone user that offer more options, greater flexibility, and precision.